Vladimir Putin suggests that Georgia was spurred on by the USA in order to help McCain win the election. What does it say about the past eight years of the Bush administration that such a suggestion can be made in the global press – and not seem like insane rhetoric to most, but a not entirely improbable possibility?

I realize politics is largely about creating spectactle, but after following the brouhaha for a few months, senator Clinton’s move to confirm Obama as the democratic presidential nominee by acclamation at the DNC last night was a pretty electrifying piece of political theatre.

(…)there is no time allocated for the Chinese to be called Nazis right now. The Iranians were the Nazis for the previous six months, now the Russians are scheduled to be the Nazis until the elections in November. We will take a break from international Nazis during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and reserve the term for relatives, in-laws, people who re-gift, and secular humanists and the ACLU and anyone else Bill O’Reilly decides is an enemy of Christmas.

Erstwhile presidential hopeful John Edwards has admitted to having an affair with a woman who is not his wife!!!!!and people are shocked! SHOCKED! since this must mean his political career is over and this is not at all seemly for a politician and also he had a haircut once and Maureen Dowd.

John McCain cheated on his first wife too, but that’s not the same thing because he was a POW and also 9/11 plus gay muslims! Duh.

After a full week of watching Deadwood, I am somewhat numbed to foul language and serialized storylines. Still, I had to empty my PVR this week-end, as it was perilously close to being full, and so I sat down for a five episode binge of AMC’s acclaimed Mad Men.

I think I’m doing a public service here by warning people not to gorge on it. First of all, you will get both a hangover and a sore throat, but more importantly, you will be forced to stare bleak existentialism square in the face at the end of the day after you realize that picket fences and consumerist propaganda will never fill that empty space in your soul. The thousand-yard stares and pregnant pauses in conversations can start to feel a tad excessive after a few hours, and you find yourself wanting to grab the characters and give them a slap to rouse them from their comatose states. Also, did you know the smoked in the 50s and 60s? They did, you know.

Of course, after a marathon of Deadwood, The Wire and The Sopranos, Mad Men can’t possibly NOT help but seem low-key, simply by virtue of the lack of “cocksuckers” and “fucks”.

The site is a collection of musings and asides, as well as quotes and links I find interesting and/or useful. I am a keen photographer and a fan of film and literature, and the site reflects my interests.